Chennai: With barely a few days left for the March 31 deadline to avail solar tariff of Rs 7.01 per unit, solar companies that have signed memorandum of understanding with Tangedco are in a hurry to commission their projects on date.
According to Tangedco sources, as on date, 600 MW out of 1484 MW solar power projects across the state had been commissioned. Of the commissioned projects, about 290 MW comes from Adani’s 648 MW solar power plant at Ramanathapuram alone. “We are expecting commissioning of another 20 MW to 30 MW of solar power projects before March 31,” said a senior Tangedco
official.
Only those projects that are commissioned before March 31 deadline would be able to avail themselves of solar tariff of Rs 7.01 per unit, the official said adding that beyond which new tariff fixed by TNERC would come into effect. TNERC has released a draft proposing solar tariff of Rs 5.10 per unit while Tangedco has suggested a much lower tariff of Rs 4.66 per unit. However, the Commission would fix a tariff based on views of all stakeholders.
“Even the new tariff will be only applicable for companies that already signed PPA with us. In future, PPAs will be signed through competitive bidding route after June,” said the official. Tangedco has signed power purchase agreement with over 50 companies for setting up 1,484 MW solar plants across the state.
Three companies – Adani’s 648 MW plant at Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram district, Welspun’s 200 MW plant in Tiruchi and Karur districts and 190 MW plant of Sun Edison in Virudhunagar— alone account for two-third of total PPA signed capacity. Rest of the companies are small players supplying 2 MW to 50 MW.
The commissioning of the solar projects are being closely watched by political parties as they sense an opportunity to take on the ruling AIADMK over the purchase of solar power at a relatively higher tariff. In particular, Tangedco’s signing of PPA with Adani snowballed into a major controversy and recent revelation by the group’s own lawyer who threatened to expose alleged regulatory and land-purchase violations by the Adani group has added fuel.
